Impact of Inflammation in Neurodevelopment

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Cellular Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 1658

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Laboratory of ImmunoPsychiatry, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia
2. Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
3. Drug Discovery Biology Theme, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, Australia
Interests: neuroinflammation; immunopsychiatry; immune-brain signalling; animal models of neuropsychiatric disease; neurodevelopmental disorders; cognitive impairment; depression; schizophrenia

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Guest Editor
1. Schizophrenia Research Laboratory, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW, Australia
2. Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
Interests: schizophrenia; neuroinflammation; neuropathology; growth factors; hormones; cytokines; neurodevelopment; post-mortem brain research

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Guest Editor
Department of Neuroscience and Physiology, Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA
Interests: neurodevelopment; microglia; astrocytes; complement; cytokines; neuroinflammation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mammalian brain development involves neuronal proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, migration, neurite formation, axonal wiring, dendritic arborisation, synaptogenesis, and synaptic sculpting. These events are supported by a variety of glial cells and blood vessels, which are themselves undergoing genesis and maturation. This multifaceted process is orchestrated by cell to cell signalling involving many types of molecules including “immune system” communicators. While the bulk of morphological brain changes occur in fetal to early postnatal life, neuromaturation continues well into the postnatal period allowing the external environment to impact brain wiring through one’s experiences. Thus, early life stress and infection can dramatically alter neurodevelopment by modulating “immune” signalling in the body and brain.

In this Special Issue of Biomolecules called “Impact of Inflammation in Neurodevelopment”, we would like to highlight the emerging role of the immune system in normal and abnormal neurodevelopment. Now is the time to address what is known and what remains to be answered with regard to the influence of the immune system on neurodevelopment, including its role in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. Of particular interest is the more recently accepted role of the immune system in normal neurodevelopment and how it is utilised during critical periods of neurodevelopment across age. We welcome review articles and primary data papers that investigate the role and consequences of inflammation on neurodevelopment from preconception until adulthood. We invite contributions from diverse disciplines including preclinical, post-mortem brain, and epidemiological studies. The topics and scope of review papers should be confirmed with the guest editors prior to submission to avoid redundancy; alternative approaches to review topics may be suggested.

Dr. Adam K. Walker
Prof. Dr. Cynthia Shannon Weickert
Dr. Rachel Sager
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • inflammation
  • neuroinflammation
  • development
  • neurodevelopmental disorders
  • neurodevelopment
  • cytokines
  • complement
  • chemokines
  • glia
  • infection
  • maternal immune activation
  • neurodevelopment across the life span
  • neuron
  • peripheral
  • stress
  • prenatal
  • postnatal
  • neurogenesis
  • synaptogenesis
  • synaptic pruning
  • programmed cell death
  • differentiation
  • maturation
  • myelination

Published Papers (1 paper)

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19 pages, 2200 KiB  
Article
Combined Effect of Maternal Separation and Early-Life Immune Activation on Brain and Behaviour of Rat Offspring
by Bharti Biswas, Valsamma Eapen, Margaret J. Morris and Nicole M. Jones
Biomolecules 2024, 14(2), 197; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom14020197 - 7 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1311
Abstract
Adversity during early life, a critical period for brain development, increases vulnerability and can have a lasting impact on the brain and behaviour of a child. However, the long-term effects of cumulative early-life stressors on brain and behaviour are not well known. We [...] Read more.
Adversity during early life, a critical period for brain development, increases vulnerability and can have a lasting impact on the brain and behaviour of a child. However, the long-term effects of cumulative early-life stressors on brain and behaviour are not well known. We studied a 2-hit rat model of early-life adversity using maternal separation (MS) and immune activation (lipopolysaccharide (LPS)). Rat pups underwent MS for 15 (control) or 180 (MS) minutes per day from postnatal day (P)2–14 and were administered saline or LPS (intraperitoneal) on P3. Open-field (OFT) and object-place recognition tests were performed on rat offspring at P33–35 and P42–50, respectively. The pre-frontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus were removed at the experimental endpoint (P52–55) for mRNA expression. MS induced anxiety-like behaviour in OFT in male and reduced locomotor activity in both male and female offspring. LPS induced a subtle decline in memory in the object-place recognition test in male offspring. MS increased glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in PFC and ionised calcium-binding adapter molecule-1 expression in male hippocampus. MS and LPS resulted in distinct behavioural phenotypes in a sex-specific manner. The combination of MS and LPS had a synergistic effect on the anxiety-like behaviour, locomotor activity, and GFAP mRNA expression outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Inflammation in Neurodevelopment)
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